Re: Sign Permits

The following comments will provide you with the up to date policy and procedures which we wish to adopt to facilitate the permit application process and ensure you are not in conflict with the various governmental levels. Recent press articles illustrate the “mood of government” and the resultant intolerance to illegal signs. e.g. Toronto and Vaughan removed hundreds of illegal signs and banners during a five day blitz last month and over one hundred tickets were issued by the police. The foregoing included real estate signs installed on posts. No sign of any of our clients was confiscated due to our diligence in following the bylaws and “being within the informal guidelines” e.g. signs are installed on private property and outside of the visibility triangle. Agents have requested even “demanded” that signs be installed on a boulevard i.e. public property.

The Ministry of Transportation conducted several field audits during April and we were required to obtain two permits.

We were all aware of the changing environment regarding this subject; therefore, your feedback is required to enable us to move forward and service your needs in a responsible manner.

Ministry of Transportation

All signs over 40 square feet and within 400 meters of a 400 Series Highway or a King’s Highway require a permit e.g. Highway 7, 27,48 etc. We will apply for a permit only if the sign is in excess of 8’x 8’. Our experience indicates the MTO has a tolerance for signs in excess of 40 square feet but not greater than 64 square feet.

Any advertising sign is not permitted e.g. an advertising sign is a real estate sign with a sold or leased sticker attached. Sign permits expire in two years.

The fee is $20 per sq. meter payable to the ministry and our fee to submit the application and obtain the permit will be $125. Telephone discussions, visits to the ministry offices, drawings etc are included in our fee. The ministry requires three to six weeks to approve the application. Two have been declined in five years and both were advertising signs – New Home of e.g.

The agents should carefully review the signage required with the landlord and explain to the landlord the approval time required to obtain a permit. At times some sites have too many signs. The maximum square footage is 500. Our relationship with the ministry over the previous five years has been excellent; therefore, a “special request” to exceed the 500 s.f. or an advertising sign has been approved.

Municipal Government

This is complex and cumbersome to administer and diametrically opposite to the simple structure of the Ministry of Transportation.

Every municipality has a sign bylaw. The City of Toronto is amending and consolidating the bylaws of Scarborough, Etobicoke, York and North York and we will be obtaining the draft soon.

The 905 area is a major problem since all of the bylaws are different. We obtained all of the sign bylaws last November and a reference manual is being assembled to provide your office with a simple to read information schedule. It will be forwarded to you by May 31^st . The purpose is to support your agents in their meetings with your clients and provide your administrators with a guide.

We have applied for such permits since 2005 but our experience has not been favourable when dealing with Brampton and Mississauga . A sign permit for an 8’ x 8’ v sign was eventually issued by Mississauga , eight months later and a fee of $1,600 was paid. Brampton requested a fee of $2,000 for a variance order of council. Both fees were non refundable.

Our relationship with Markham, Vaughan, Pickering, Milton etc is good. Their fee is $150 – 200 but the application can be cumbersome. We may require drawings certified by an engineer at a cost of $400. 

We recommend that Corporate Signs assumes the lead role to attempt to have the sign bylaws consolidated. That is the secondary purpose of the sign matrix. Applications for sign permits will be jointly assessed and “field tested” by Corporate Signs.

Our permit fee is difficult to determine when dealing with Mississauga and Brampton but a fee of $125 is considered reasonable for other municipalities.